Defending champ Els in final

Westwood to provide opposition at World Match Play

? Ernie Els beat Padraig Harrington, 5 and 4, Saturday to move into the final of the World Match Play Championship and stay on course for a record sixth title.

Els, the defending champion who shares the record of five World Match Play titles with Gary Player and Seve Ballestros, will face Lee Westwood, who withstood a late comeback by Miguel Angel Jimenez to win the other semifinal, 1-up.

Westwood was 5-up with eight holes to play before Jimenez won three straight and the 16th to make it close.

The winner today receives $1.8 million, billed as the biggest prize in world golf.

Els, who turns 35 today, will be appearing in the final for a record seventh time. His only loss in the final came against Vijay Singh in 1997. However, Westwood has beaten Els in the only two matches the two have played, in the second round in 1998 and the semifinals in 2000.

Els missed six short putts, including successive five-footers at the 15th and 16th, both of which he lost.

His lead was down to two, but he won the 17th and improved his putting in the afternoon, maintaining a three-hole lead over Harrington — who was played with an injured right thumb — the rest of the way.